Sport & Fitness

Obviously you dont cycle in London but are the sort of person who complains about your guinness being served in a john smiths glass, and wants to punch people who walk too slowly and calmly for your tastes. I assume you support mass cycle lanes for london? Or do you prefer the idea of having as much cancer causing pollution from cars and buses in our childrens lungs each time we take them to the great capital we admire and cherish - which was strangely not designed for cars but horses!

My daily commute (by bike) brings me over the hampstead heath every morning. Singing birds, waving grass, old trees instead of the endless dark routine of the tube.
The danger of cycling is mostly due to bad car drivers. As a cyclist you have to claim your position - the middle of the road when traffic is slow and you can keep up - in the middle when traffic is to slow and you can take over - and only when traffic is MUCH faster you cycle on the left hand side (the most dangerous position).
Traffic lights are optional and requiers an assesment on case to case basis. Mostly they are useless traffic blockers (also for carrs), if you don't believe this - get on a bike and you will know.

creative reverie? with lorries rolling past? that doesn't make sense to me. I would have thought most people would prefer to stroll by with fume-less, quiet cyclists rolling past than with smoke-belching, noisy lorries.

I'm an avid cyclist and I never cycle on the pavement. But for you MIchael Hodges, I will make an exception. Please post a picture of yourself so I know who to aim for as I barrel down upon thee on my two wheeled, man powered killing machine. Don't worry, I won't completely blind side you. I'll make sure you see me at least two seconds beforehand. If your reflexes are good enough, that should give you enough time to react... but I'm betting that your unathletic body will not react quick enough to your 'thinking' mind. BTW: your thinking mind outputs some rubbish!

Cyclists on pavements, or any sort of shared surface with pedestrians is simply too dangerous for blind and partially sighted people and should never be allowed. Its almost as dangerous for people with hearing impairments and learning difficulties as well. Disabled people should not be excluded from the streets and getting to whatever film. show, stand up gig or service they want because of cyclists on footpaths. Whatever rules there are, or signs put up, there are always going to be some ignorant or uncaring people that ignore them, and that makes it simply too dangerous to allow

Is this all the Idiot has to talk about, and get paid for it. There are more pressing issues in London.
I think I will be using the GUIDE free in the Guardian or other. from now on rather than buy this kind of Tat

yes i too have had many flashes of inspirations as i walked along the london footpath's and many interesting conversations with the people i brush past on the way- NOT!!! get a life mate

As a London cyclist I have to avoid pedestrians walking on the road / marked cycle path about 6 times a day (24 mile round trip). Sometimes it's genuine mistake, couldn't see me (e.g. walking between buses), but most of the time is plain negligence and not even taking the care to look before stepping out.
Vehicles that drive in the cycle lane (when it's not full of parked cars) are also a common occurrence. And why do Taxi's and bus's need to speed past only seconds later to cut in front and pull over or slow up?
So please if we make a mistake (yes we're not always faultless) consider how many times we may have already taken accident avoiding action on our journey.

I am very much with Derek, not at all with Michael. His article might be brilliantly written, ironic and well, more or less sharp. What I see behind it is the grim mask of conservativeness (which he tries to hide behind his remarks about Boris and David). I never understood why there are so little cyclists in London. You could blame it on the streets, the traffic, the size of the city... well, I am not sure, but think it also has to do with a certain mind set that seems to be very hard to change.

Huh. Has this article been past an editor yet?

The only way for cyclists,pedestrians and motorists to co-exist peacefully together is if ALL road users respect the Highway Code and follow the law of the land-I am a cyclist a motorist and a pedestrian and know of all the bad habits.I gasp in horror at the dangerous liberties each takes with the other-Traffic Laws are made largely to allow citizens to co-exist peacefully and give everyone a chance to avoid the carnage on today's overcrowded roads

Everyone has a grievance with each other - whether cyclist, pedestrian or driver - mostly perfectly well-founded. I'm not a cyclist because I'm terrified of the way people drive on London's roads, so I understand their arguments very well.
However I think the anti-cyclist article above misses one crucial unforgivable thing that [some] cyclists do - jump red lights, particularly on pedestrian crossings. I have very nearly been hit by cyclists going through red lights on a crossing, when I'm legitimately crossing on a green man signal, so many times, and each time it's clear that the cyclist doing the jumping doesn't give a toss about the traffic laws.
Perhaps if we all kept to the rules of the road a bit more - drivers and pedestrians too - we'd all be a lot safer and happier.

Ken livingstones new cycle lanes, great idea! but first why not standardise the use of bus lanes so they are for cycles as well as most even minded people would assume they are/should be anyway.
further to the environmental factors, i recently learned that buses dont have to pass an MOT that monitors their emissions, WHY when they produce the most disgusting spurious fumes it seems an outrageous oversight and a less than accidental one

agreed.... what an old and tired argument! shame on timeout for printing these words. and as for the photography. it sucks. totally sad issue and: completely PEDESTRIAN
(says it all)

Looks to me like someone is short of things to write about and has decided to ride the rise in cycling. albeit badly!
I cycle, walk, bus, drive, trian etc etc. i have been driven at by selfish drivers, pushed into train doors by anxious commuters, abused on the bus by impatient drivers and had cyclists blind side me.
There is no easy ride but put it in perspective. cyclists aren't looking to hurt themselves, they are more alert to their surroundings than the car safe 4x4 drivers and the pedstrians dropping off pavements strapped to their latest eletrical device.
If those who cycle on the pavement raise the awareness of cyclists the few more accidents might happen.
A few more smiles and we can see the middle ground... that is except for bendy busses! get them out of zone 1&2